Clashes Over Yemen’s Government Leave 2 Protesters Dead

Supporters of Yemen's government controlled part of a street in Sana, the capital, during a clash with antigovernment protesters.Credit
Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press

SANA, Yemen — Two young men were shot dead by government supporters on Tuesday night during a protest in front of Sana University, medical workers said. They are the first deaths in clashes between pro- and antigovernment demonstrators in Sana in the nearly two weeks since students began calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Eight other people were wounded, the medical workers said, when government supporters in plain clothes opened fire on the protesters, who have been staging a sit-in in front of Sana University since Sunday morning.

A makeshift medical clinic treated the wounded while they waited for ambulances to arrive. Protesters surrounding the clinic chanted, “There is no God but God.”

About 2,000 protesters remained on Tuesday night after the shooting. They have vowed to stay until Mr. Saleh steps down.

According to witnesses, the clashes between the pro- and antigovernment demonstrators started when the two sides began hurling rocks back and forth over the heads of about 10 members of the security forces.

The security forces began to shoot live ammunition in the air in an attempt to stop the rock-throwing, but then the pro-government demonstrators started to run toward the students, shooting automatic weapons and pistols. When the gunmen started shooting, the police ran away, according to multiple witnesses.

According to one government official, who was not authorized to speak to the news media, the antigovernment protesters also fired live ammunition at the pro-government demonstrators, killing one and wounding more than a dozen.

Some foreign journalists at the scene said they did not see any attack by antigovernment protesters, who have largely been peaceful. But the government official said: “Witnesses noted a surge of armed individuals in the vicinity of the opposition camp. Later on, clashes erupted between the pro- and antigovernment camps. The riot police attempted to separate the crowds. Soon thereafter, a barrage of bullets hit the pro-government demonstrators.”

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Both sides have clashed before, but some Yemenis said that the escalation of violence would now draw more people into the streets.

“The number of people coming to the protest will increase after they see innocent people dying,” said Mohamed al-Ghasary, 23 and unemployed, who was sitting on a wall beside a group of about 50 men. A large crowd of pro-government demonstrators waited about five blocks away.

The antigovernment protesters occasionally taunted the government supporters, calling them “baltegeya,” or thugs. Piles of rocks lay behind them from a battle only about an hour before.

“The one who is killed is a martyr and will enter heaven; this is why we aren’t scared of the bullets,” said Yasser Abdullah, who came to Sana from Amran to join the protests two days ago.

His left cheek was stuffed full of qat, the stimulant wildly popular in Yemen, and he wore a jambiya, or Yemeni-style dagger, on his belt. Mr. Abdullah is one of the increasing number of Yemenis from rural areas coming to Sana to call for Mr. Saleh’s removal.

The protesters say they believe that the pro-government demonstrators have been sent by the government to terrorize them, further cementing their disgust for the president. But the Yemeni government has denied that it has any connection with the men attacking the students.

A version of this article appears in print on February 23, 2011, on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Clashes Over Yemen’s Government Leave 2 Protesters Dead. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe